SOS Press Release 23rd June - Record Sales

P R E S S R E L E A S E

SOS CELEBRATE 40 YEARS WITH RECORD SALES IN EDUCATION SECTOR

SOS Group, the local manufacturers and distributors of educational equipment and contract furniture for the public and private sectors, are celebrating their 40^th Anniversary this week with the news that the last twelve months have been their most successful ever in the education sector.

This year has seen the company’s sales of furniture and equipment for schools, colleges and universities reach £3.25million. Recent successes have included the winning of contracts with Farrans Construction, Patton Construction and Heron Brothers to supply and install over 200 Promethean interactive whiteboards to six new schools currently in construction. SOS has also won the contract to install the first SICO Insta-theatre in Northern Ireland at Oakwood Integrated School, Dunmurry. The Insta-theatre is an innovative, full size performance theatre that folds conveniently into a pocket, or against a wall enabling schools to transform their assembly hall or gym into a professional theatre in minutes.

Commenting on their success in the education sector Phillip Walsh, Partner, SOS Group said

“We are delighted to have reached our 40^th Anniversary and to be able to report a year of such outstanding success in the schools and third-level education sector. The educational furniture and equipment market has seen tremendous changes since the our business was first established back in 1961 and today technology, particularly internet based technology is transforming the way pupils learn and teachers teach at all stages in the education process. We have been able to establish our premier position in this marketplace by keeping pace with the technological developments and that is very much reflected in the highly technical nature of the contacts we have won over the past year”.

SOS Group was established in 1969 under its original name of Irish Schools Furniture, by former teacher Harry Walsh who nurtured it from a workshop on Barrack Street, Belfast to a state of the art manufacturing facility in the old Olympia Typewriter site on the Boucher Road. Showcase projects over the years have included Trinity College Library, Millennium Theatre, Derry and the National Maritime College of Ireland in Cork.

Harry Walsh died suddenly in 2002 but the business has continued to thrive in the hands of his sons Phillip and Chris. In 2005 the company moved to a purpose built manufacturing and distribution complex at Heron Road in the Belfast Harbour Estate. The company which has a total annual turnover of £4.2million employs a full time staff of 28.